Woman fights deportation order, won’t leave diabetic daughter

by Alexandra Campbell Howe

STAMFORD, Conn. — For Miriam Martinez-Lemus, the tracking device she has worn on her ankle for months is a bothersome reminder that the U.S., despite being her home for the last 26 years, has ordered her to leave.

But it is also tangible proof of her determination to stay.

Martinez-Lemus, 53, who has lived in the U.S. without legal status since leaving her native Guatemala in 1992, has attracted the support of neighbors and public officials in Connecticut for defying an order to leave the country when her stay of deportation was denied last year. The order came after she had checked in with immigration authorities for years without incident.

Martinez-Lemus has said that she will not leave her husband and two daughters because the oldest, Brianna, 13, has Type 1 diabetes and requires constant care and medical attention.